November 18, 2010
09:00 AM (EST)

News Release Number: STScI-2010-38

Hubble Captures New Life in an Ancient Galaxy

November 18, 2010: Elliptical galaxies were once thought to be aging star cities
whose star-making heyday was billions of years ago. But new
observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are helping
to show that elliptical galaxies still have some youthful vigor
left, thanks to encounters with smaller galaxies.

Images of the core of NGC 4150, taken in near-ultraviolet light
with the sharp-eyed Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), reveal
streamers of dust and gas and clumps of young, blue stars
that are significantly less than a billion years old. Evidence
shows that the star birth was sparked by a merger with a dwarf
galaxy. The new study helps bolster the emerging view that
most elliptical galaxies have young stars, bringing new life to
old galaxies. In the large-scale image, the dark strands of dust
in the center provide tentative evidence of a recent galaxy merger.
The inset image shows a magnified view of the chaotic activity
inside the galaxy's core. The blue areas indicate a flurry of
recent star birth. The stellar breeding ground is about 1,300
light-years across. The stars in this area are less than a billion
years old.